


Prove Your Love By Breaking-And-Entering Into Places

by probablyjuno



Series: Juno Steel and the Pursuit of Happiness [4]
Category: The Penumbra Podcast
Genre: Other, Peter begins to realize feeling things is okay, i'm proud of my master thief y'all
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-31
Updated: 2019-05-31
Packaged: 2020-03-30 23:19:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,013
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19037575
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/probablyjuno/pseuds/probablyjuno
Summary: Peter decides to visit Juno. Rita drives the RUBY7.





	Prove Your Love By Breaking-And-Entering Into Places

**Author's Note:**

> “Like a force to be reckoned with  
> A mighty ocean or a gentle kiss  
> I will love you with every single thing I have  
> Like a tidal wave, we'll make a mess  
> Calm waters, if that serves you best  
> I will love you without any strings attached
> 
> It's okay if you can't catch your breath  
> You can take the oxygen straight out of my own chest
> 
> I know exactly how your rule goes  
> Put my mask on first  
> No, I don't want to talk about myself  
> Tell me where it hurts  
> I just want to build you up, build you up  
> 'Til you're good as new  
> And maybe one day, I'll get around  
> To fixing myself, too
> 
> I don't even know where to start  
> Already tired of trying to recall when it all fell apart  
> I just want to love you, to love you, to love you, and  
> I just want to learn how to somehow be loved myself”
> 
> \- “Two”, by Sleeping At Last
> 
>  
> 
> (I made a Jupeter [playlist](https://open.spotify.com/user/beauty_hunter/playlist/2HHzo9dM4PGjbiUui0zgYj?si=aD5ifCooT9-jZvpaaKRYpQ%20%E2%80%A6) if you're interested <3)

It was his first time breaking into a hospital.

 

Peter was sitting on the passenger seat of the RUBY7. His hands still felt alien, and their mere sight was enough to send him trembling, so Rita was driving. She seemed both overjoyed to be at the wheel of such a vehicle, and terrified - she undoubtedly never had driven something as close as the best car on Mars.  
Blood still caked the back of the car’s interior, despite the many times Peter had scrubbed it furiously. Juno’s pain had been etched into the seats and the thief’s mind, and the simple thought of his whimpers tore through Peter’s willpower. His breath caught in his throat, and he had to remind himself to breathe.

 

His eyes were painfully dry, his lids scraping against his retina each time Nureyev blinked. Nonetheless, he felt better. Earthquakes had sent him toppling over, decades of carefully erecting the Peter Nureyev facade destroyed. The tremors had torn into the exterior, exposing the beams. However, the foundations remained, and on the rubbles, Peter could build anew. This time, he was free, liberated of the thick walls he had constructed to once protect himself and that had become his prison. He had been freed of the names owning his body, his voice. Peter Nureyev belonged to himself, and for the first time, it felt good.   
Breaking down had cleansed him of decades of bottled emotions - he now felt empty, but Peter was ready to learn. Duke and all the other aliases had been washed away with the tears, and Peter Nureyev felt lighter than ever.

 

The void inside of him felt dizzying. Peter had been fasting for years and had suddenly eaten to make up for the time lost - everything felt repugnant, but given time, things might regain their taste, and maybe then Peter would savor it all. Life needed time to make sense again. And Peter Nureyev had all the time in the world.

His eyes were taking in the buzz of Hyperion City. The streets were busy, perhaps even more so than during daytime. The frenetic energy made Peter sick, but he couldn’t take his eyes away. The immense digital billboards, the quaint shop fronts, the bizarre people - Peter hated this city, because it had torn Juno Steel away from him. But a part of himself couldn’t help falling in love with every face that filled the metropolis, every smell that choked the streets, every color that blinded passerbys - this city had stolen Juno Steel from Nureyev, but it had learned to let the detective go in time. And maybe, if it wasn’t for this place, Rex Glass and Peter Nureyev never would have met him in the first place. 

 

“You okay mistah Rose?”

Peter tore his eyes from the window to turn towards Rita. Her hands were clasped around the wheel, searing white, but a smile illuminated her face.

 

Nureyev took a moment to remember the taste of words. The trembling had shaken his resolve, and something about the own sound of his voice made him shudder. The thief needed to focus hard to recall his real voice. He attempted something, soft and genuine.

“Yes, I’m okay. Or...I will be. Eventually.” Peter shifted uncomfortably in the seat. The sentence had sounded empty. Well, he had aimed for genuine, so maybe this meant allowing for emotions to show. The thief cleared his throat. “And please, call me… I don’t know… But please, not Rose.”

Rita’s face scrunched up, but she nodded. 

“Okay mistah I-don’t-know.”

Peter huffed. Well, maybe this was better.

 

Nureyev had asked Rita to drive him to the hospital. Jet was absolutely right, he needed to visit Juno, for both the detective and himself. Duke had been too preoccupied with keeping face to accept it, but now, there were no more names to hide behind.  
It was nighttime. Rita had offered they wait for morning, but Peter simply couldn’t wait. They did have time, all the time in the galaxy, but Nureyev wanted to spend every last second with Juno. Not a single minute could be wasted on petty fighting and lies anymore. He had to fix things. So, he would have to break into a hospital.

 

Peter was still wearing the simple clothes he had slipped on after his shower. They clung to his frame with sweat and felt too revealing - black, simple - none of his personas were so ready to embrace simplicity. Nureyev caught himself. Yes, none of his personas would, but a man that just had a breakdown should not worry about his outfit.  
Something told Peter this emptiness would not last - when decades are spent on living as someone else, remains linger, even after a flood. He would have to fix his whole galaxy to be allowed to live as Peter Nureyev. But Juno Steel was in this galaxy too, so maybe things were going to be alright after all - and Peter started believing those words.

 

They both remained silent for the duration of the trip. 

Peter fidgeted with a piece of paper, crumpled into a ball, feeling the texture of the grain under his fingertips, on his palms. He had kept one of the notes with him. Something deep inside of him was ready to convince himself this had all been a dream, words whispered during half-consciousness, desires so wild even sleep would soon erase them. But under his skin, the ink felt very real. Juno Steel had written those words.   
There was so much he wanted to tell him, now that Peter Nureyev was free of his shackles, once and for all. But this liberty was just as frightening as exhilarating - vulnerability was not exactly the thief’s preferred terrain, so he had to improvise - what to say, how to say it. But hell, Juno was worth it all.

 

He had never broken into a hospital. But Peter Nureyev would have found a way into hell and out if it meant being with Juno Steel. Only death could do them part, and Peter Nureyev had no intention on going anywhere. Not anymore.

**Author's Note:**

> Hi hi Travelers! I hope you are all doing well. Thank you for reading another chapter of this series, I truly appreciate it. There will be two released chapters today cause why not! (follow me on Tumblr @probablyjunofics for updates)
> 
> Thanks to @DaineVin, as always, for being o so wonderful and helping me edit, for inspiring me and being an all-around fantastic friend<3


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